CA2734107C - Deformable mirror with force actuators and distributed stiffness - Google Patents
Deformable mirror with force actuators and distributed stiffness Download PDFInfo
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- CA2734107C CA2734107C CA2734107A CA2734107A CA2734107C CA 2734107 C CA2734107 C CA 2734107C CA 2734107 A CA2734107 A CA 2734107A CA 2734107 A CA2734107 A CA 2734107A CA 2734107 C CA2734107 C CA 2734107C
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B26/00—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements
- G02B26/08—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light
- G02B26/0816—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light by means of one or more reflecting elements
- G02B26/0825—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light by means of one or more reflecting elements the reflecting element being a flexible sheet or membrane, e.g. for varying the focus
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B26/00—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements
- G02B26/06—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the phase of light
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- Optics & Photonics (AREA)
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Abstract
The invention relates to a deformable mirror (1) that comprises a deformable membrane (2) with an outer reflecting surface (3) and an opposite surface (4), a rigid bearing plate (7) and at least one force actuator (5, 6). Each actuator (5, 6) includes at least two elements (5 6) capable of remotely interacting with each other in order to generate a force in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed membrane (2) and capable of movement relative to each other along the direction of the force thus generated in order to create a local deformation of the membrane (2). One of the two elements (5, 6) is integrated in the bearing plate (7) while the other is coupled to the membrane (2). One of said elements (5, 6) is capable of controlling the intensity of the force thus generated. According to the invention, the mirror (1) further includes a reference means (7, 8) coupled to the membrane (2) by at least one rigid connection means (10) and at least one flexible connection means (11). Each rigid connection means (10) is connected to the membrane (2) and each flexible connection means (11) is at least partially connected to the reference means (7, 8).
Description
Agent Ref: 77436/00002
2
3 The present invention relates to a deformable mirror having
4 force actuators and distributed stiffness.
7 The present invention relates to the field of deformable 8 mirrors each having a reflective membrane and force actuators.
9 It relates more particularly to a deformable mirror comprising a deformable membrane with a reflective outer face and 11 an opposite face, a rigid support plate, and at least one force 12 actuator. Each actuator comprises at least two elements suitable 13 for interacting with each other remotely so as to generate a 14 force in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed membrane, and suitable for 16 being displaced relative to each other in the direction of said 17 generated force so as to cause said membrane to be deformed 18 locally. One of the two elements is incorporated into the 19 support plate and the other element is coupled to said membrane.
One of said two elements is suitable for controlling the 21 intensity of said generated force.
24 The term "force actuator" is used in the present patent to mean an actuator in which it is the force generated by the 26 actuator that is controllable and not the displacement of an 27 element of said actuator. For example, an actuator made up of an 28 electromagnet and of a permanent magnet is referred to as a 29 "force actuator" whenever it is control of the generated magnetic force that controls the amplitude of the displacement of the 31 magnet for deforming the membrane: when there is no longer any 32 force being applied, the magnet returns to its initial position 33 and the membrane is no longer deformed. Conversely, it is 34 referred to as a "displacement actuator" whenever it is the position of an element (e.g. an actuator based on variation of 36 length of a piezoelectric element) suitable for being displaced 22079986.1 1 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 that is controlled directly: when the force ceases to be applied, 2 the actuator remains in the same position. These two types of 3 actuator are not equivalent, in particular because the 4 relationship between displacement and generated force is not necessary linear, although actuators are generally dimensioned so 6 that this relationship is as linear as possible.
7 In addition, the terms "flexible link" and "rigid link" used 8 in the present patent designate respectively first and second 9 links having respective first and second stiffnesses, the second stiffness being greater than the first stiffness. Merely by way 11 of indication, a flexible link typically has elongation at least 12 equal to a threshold lying in the range 15 nanometers (nm) to 25 13 nm under the action of a force equal to the average force 14 developed by an actuator, this displacement corresponding to the displacement that is observable in the state of the art of wave-16 front sensors, while a rigid link typically has elongation that 17 is less than said threshold for the same force.
18 The general principle of such deformable mirrors is known 19 from the state of the art. Deformable mirrors in which the reflective membrane is merely suspended over the edges generally 21 have low stiffness. Stiffness must be compatible with the force 22 that the force actuator is capable of generating in order to 23 generate sufficient deformation. Since the membrane is suspended 24 over the edges, such a mirror has a resonance frequency that is low when the diameter of the membrane increases, which makes it 26 impossible to implement deformable mirrors that have both high 27 frequency response and a large diameter. The general technical 28 problem posed by such mirrors thus consists in how to increase or 29 distribute their stiffness so as to increase their frequency response. Unfortunately, increasing the stiffness of the 31 membrane remains limited by the capacity for deformation of the 32 force actuators.
33 An example of a deformable mirror having non-distributed 34 stiffness is described in Patent Document FR 2 876 460. In that document a deformable mirror has a deformable membrane that has a 36 reflective outer face and an inner face to which a plurality of 22079986.1 2 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 permanent magnets are fastened. A housing containing 2 electromagnets is placed facing the permanent magnets so as to 3 exert an electromagnetic force thereon, thereby locally 4 displacing the corresponding zone of the deformable membrane.
Associating a permanent magnet with an electromagnet corresponds 6 to a force actuator of the electromagnetic type. In order to 7 avoid imprint phenomena on the membrane, the inner face is 8 covered with a uniform layer made of a flexible material.
9 A drawback of such a mirror lies firstly in the fact that even though the layer of flexible material does reduce imprint 11 phenomena, it does not make it possible to distribute the 12 stiffness of the membrane. Thus, local deformation of the 13 membrane is not transcribed in sufficiently localized manner.
14 Another drawback stems from the fact that the layer of flexible material is placed very close to the electromagnets. That layer 16 and the reflective outer layer of the membrane are thus 17 inevitably deformed by thermal expansion due to the heat given 18 off by the electromagnets.
19 A first solution for distributing stiffness is proposed in Patent WO 2005/050283. In that document, a deformable mirror 21 comprises a deformable membrane, an array of actuators situated 22 facing the opposite face of the membrane, and an array of 23 actuating connections. Each actuating connection is coupled to 24 an actuating surface of a respective one of the actuators in the array and of a respective point of the second surface opposite 26 from the actuating surface. Each actuating connection has 27 anisotropic rigidity and transmits movement perpendicular to the 28 second surface. The actuators are constituted by permanent 29 magnets and by electromagnets. The deformable membrane is secured via rigid rods to a magnetizable membrane. While the 31 electromagnet is operating, the permanent magnet, without being 32 displaced, locally exerts a magnetic force on the magnetizable 33 membrane, thereby locally deforming said magnetizable membrane.
34 That local deformation is in turn transmitted to the reflective membrane via rigid rods. Mechanical elements make it possible to 36 close the magnetic field generated by each actuator.
22079986.1 3 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 A drawback with such a mirror lies in the complexity of its 2 construction, due to the numerous mechanical parts to be 3 assembled together, implying tight mechanical tolerances. In 4 addition, the permanent magnet does not act mechanically (by means of its own displacement) but rather it acts magnetically 6 (without being displaced) to cause a magnetizable intermediate 7 membrane to be deformed locally. That presupposes that a 8 magnetizable membrane is available, which can be a constraint 9 when an appropriate magnetizable material needs to be found.
Finally, the electromagnets are disposed very close to the 11 remainder of the structure, and that firstly can cause thermal 12 expansion due to the heat given off by the electromagnets and 13 secondly makes it impossible to do any repair work on an 14 electromagnet without damaging the membranes.
A second solution for distributing stiffness is described in 16 Patent Document FR 07/07719. In that document, a deformable 17 mirror comprises a deformable membrane having a reflective face 18 and an opposite face, a rigid plate and a structure of actuators 19 fastened to the rigid plate and suitable for locally deforming the membrane. That mirror further comprises an adhesive layer on 21 the opposite face of the membrane, and a structure of flexible 22 coupling means. Each flexible coupling means comprises a 23 mechanical connection means, a top link means coupling the top 24 end of the mechanical connection means to the adhesive layer, and a bottom link means coupling the bottom end of the mechanical 26 connection means to the rigid plate. The mechanical coupling 27 means can, for example, be a rod. That configuration based on a 28 flexible structure procures distribution of the stiffness of the 29 membrane over the entire surface thereof, while also enabling all of the component elements of the mirror to be assembled together 31 simply, and while reducing the mechanical tolerance requirements 32 at the actuators.
33 Unfortunately, when electromagnetic-type force actuators are 34 used, that solution suffers from the drawback of making it difficult to reduce the pitch between the force actuators, due to 36 the large size of the rods and to the additional machining that 22079986.1 4 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 is necessary. In addition, the housing in which all of the 2 elements are enclosed is impossible to open with a view to doing 3 repairs, e.g. for replacing a coil, without damaging the 4 membrane. Finally, the electromagnets are disposed very close to the layers of flexible adhesive and to the link means constituted 6 by adhesives. Those link means thus expand in uncontrollable 7 manner under the effect of the heating caused by operation of the 8 electromagnets.
9 Patent Application US 2007/0286035 also describes a deformable mirror device. Unfortunately, that device is not 11 provided with means making it possible to achieve complex control 12 of its surface.
13 Thus, no state-of-the-art solution makes it possible to 14 procure a deformable mirror having force actuators that has its stiffness sufficiently distributed during local deformation, that 16 is sufficiently simple and inexpensive to repair, and that offers 17 the possibility of significantly reducing the distance between 18 its actuators.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
21 An object of the present invention is to remedy that 22 technical problem by using, in addition to the reflective 23 deformable membrane and to the support plate, a two-stage 24 structure in which the second stage has reference means. Each force actuator comprises a control element (e.g. an 26 electromagnet) and an interaction element (e.g. a permanent 27 magnet) for interacting with the control element. A first stage 28 is made up of a combination of control or interaction elements, 29 and of flexible and rigid link means connected in part to the deformable membrane. A second stage of control or interaction 31 elements makes it possible to control relative displacement of 32 the two elements and thus to cause the membrane to be deformed 33 locally.
34 The approach to finding the solution consisted in looking for means of controlling the local deformations of the membrane
7 The present invention relates to the field of deformable 8 mirrors each having a reflective membrane and force actuators.
9 It relates more particularly to a deformable mirror comprising a deformable membrane with a reflective outer face and 11 an opposite face, a rigid support plate, and at least one force 12 actuator. Each actuator comprises at least two elements suitable 13 for interacting with each other remotely so as to generate a 14 force in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed membrane, and suitable for 16 being displaced relative to each other in the direction of said 17 generated force so as to cause said membrane to be deformed 18 locally. One of the two elements is incorporated into the 19 support plate and the other element is coupled to said membrane.
One of said two elements is suitable for controlling the 21 intensity of said generated force.
24 The term "force actuator" is used in the present patent to mean an actuator in which it is the force generated by the 26 actuator that is controllable and not the displacement of an 27 element of said actuator. For example, an actuator made up of an 28 electromagnet and of a permanent magnet is referred to as a 29 "force actuator" whenever it is control of the generated magnetic force that controls the amplitude of the displacement of the 31 magnet for deforming the membrane: when there is no longer any 32 force being applied, the magnet returns to its initial position 33 and the membrane is no longer deformed. Conversely, it is 34 referred to as a "displacement actuator" whenever it is the position of an element (e.g. an actuator based on variation of 36 length of a piezoelectric element) suitable for being displaced 22079986.1 1 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 that is controlled directly: when the force ceases to be applied, 2 the actuator remains in the same position. These two types of 3 actuator are not equivalent, in particular because the 4 relationship between displacement and generated force is not necessary linear, although actuators are generally dimensioned so 6 that this relationship is as linear as possible.
7 In addition, the terms "flexible link" and "rigid link" used 8 in the present patent designate respectively first and second 9 links having respective first and second stiffnesses, the second stiffness being greater than the first stiffness. Merely by way 11 of indication, a flexible link typically has elongation at least 12 equal to a threshold lying in the range 15 nanometers (nm) to 25 13 nm under the action of a force equal to the average force 14 developed by an actuator, this displacement corresponding to the displacement that is observable in the state of the art of wave-16 front sensors, while a rigid link typically has elongation that 17 is less than said threshold for the same force.
18 The general principle of such deformable mirrors is known 19 from the state of the art. Deformable mirrors in which the reflective membrane is merely suspended over the edges generally 21 have low stiffness. Stiffness must be compatible with the force 22 that the force actuator is capable of generating in order to 23 generate sufficient deformation. Since the membrane is suspended 24 over the edges, such a mirror has a resonance frequency that is low when the diameter of the membrane increases, which makes it 26 impossible to implement deformable mirrors that have both high 27 frequency response and a large diameter. The general technical 28 problem posed by such mirrors thus consists in how to increase or 29 distribute their stiffness so as to increase their frequency response. Unfortunately, increasing the stiffness of the 31 membrane remains limited by the capacity for deformation of the 32 force actuators.
33 An example of a deformable mirror having non-distributed 34 stiffness is described in Patent Document FR 2 876 460. In that document a deformable mirror has a deformable membrane that has a 36 reflective outer face and an inner face to which a plurality of 22079986.1 2 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 permanent magnets are fastened. A housing containing 2 electromagnets is placed facing the permanent magnets so as to 3 exert an electromagnetic force thereon, thereby locally 4 displacing the corresponding zone of the deformable membrane.
Associating a permanent magnet with an electromagnet corresponds 6 to a force actuator of the electromagnetic type. In order to 7 avoid imprint phenomena on the membrane, the inner face is 8 covered with a uniform layer made of a flexible material.
9 A drawback of such a mirror lies firstly in the fact that even though the layer of flexible material does reduce imprint 11 phenomena, it does not make it possible to distribute the 12 stiffness of the membrane. Thus, local deformation of the 13 membrane is not transcribed in sufficiently localized manner.
14 Another drawback stems from the fact that the layer of flexible material is placed very close to the electromagnets. That layer 16 and the reflective outer layer of the membrane are thus 17 inevitably deformed by thermal expansion due to the heat given 18 off by the electromagnets.
19 A first solution for distributing stiffness is proposed in Patent WO 2005/050283. In that document, a deformable mirror 21 comprises a deformable membrane, an array of actuators situated 22 facing the opposite face of the membrane, and an array of 23 actuating connections. Each actuating connection is coupled to 24 an actuating surface of a respective one of the actuators in the array and of a respective point of the second surface opposite 26 from the actuating surface. Each actuating connection has 27 anisotropic rigidity and transmits movement perpendicular to the 28 second surface. The actuators are constituted by permanent 29 magnets and by electromagnets. The deformable membrane is secured via rigid rods to a magnetizable membrane. While the 31 electromagnet is operating, the permanent magnet, without being 32 displaced, locally exerts a magnetic force on the magnetizable 33 membrane, thereby locally deforming said magnetizable membrane.
34 That local deformation is in turn transmitted to the reflective membrane via rigid rods. Mechanical elements make it possible to 36 close the magnetic field generated by each actuator.
22079986.1 3 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 A drawback with such a mirror lies in the complexity of its 2 construction, due to the numerous mechanical parts to be 3 assembled together, implying tight mechanical tolerances. In 4 addition, the permanent magnet does not act mechanically (by means of its own displacement) but rather it acts magnetically 6 (without being displaced) to cause a magnetizable intermediate 7 membrane to be deformed locally. That presupposes that a 8 magnetizable membrane is available, which can be a constraint 9 when an appropriate magnetizable material needs to be found.
Finally, the electromagnets are disposed very close to the 11 remainder of the structure, and that firstly can cause thermal 12 expansion due to the heat given off by the electromagnets and 13 secondly makes it impossible to do any repair work on an 14 electromagnet without damaging the membranes.
A second solution for distributing stiffness is described in 16 Patent Document FR 07/07719. In that document, a deformable 17 mirror comprises a deformable membrane having a reflective face 18 and an opposite face, a rigid plate and a structure of actuators 19 fastened to the rigid plate and suitable for locally deforming the membrane. That mirror further comprises an adhesive layer on 21 the opposite face of the membrane, and a structure of flexible 22 coupling means. Each flexible coupling means comprises a 23 mechanical connection means, a top link means coupling the top 24 end of the mechanical connection means to the adhesive layer, and a bottom link means coupling the bottom end of the mechanical 26 connection means to the rigid plate. The mechanical coupling 27 means can, for example, be a rod. That configuration based on a 28 flexible structure procures distribution of the stiffness of the 29 membrane over the entire surface thereof, while also enabling all of the component elements of the mirror to be assembled together 31 simply, and while reducing the mechanical tolerance requirements 32 at the actuators.
33 Unfortunately, when electromagnetic-type force actuators are 34 used, that solution suffers from the drawback of making it difficult to reduce the pitch between the force actuators, due to 36 the large size of the rods and to the additional machining that 22079986.1 4 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 is necessary. In addition, the housing in which all of the 2 elements are enclosed is impossible to open with a view to doing 3 repairs, e.g. for replacing a coil, without damaging the 4 membrane. Finally, the electromagnets are disposed very close to the layers of flexible adhesive and to the link means constituted 6 by adhesives. Those link means thus expand in uncontrollable 7 manner under the effect of the heating caused by operation of the 8 electromagnets.
9 Patent Application US 2007/0286035 also describes a deformable mirror device. Unfortunately, that device is not 11 provided with means making it possible to achieve complex control 12 of its surface.
13 Thus, no state-of-the-art solution makes it possible to 14 procure a deformable mirror having force actuators that has its stiffness sufficiently distributed during local deformation, that 16 is sufficiently simple and inexpensive to repair, and that offers 17 the possibility of significantly reducing the distance between 18 its actuators.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
21 An object of the present invention is to remedy that 22 technical problem by using, in addition to the reflective 23 deformable membrane and to the support plate, a two-stage 24 structure in which the second stage has reference means. Each force actuator comprises a control element (e.g. an 26 electromagnet) and an interaction element (e.g. a permanent 27 magnet) for interacting with the control element. A first stage 28 is made up of a combination of control or interaction elements, 29 and of flexible and rigid link means connected in part to the deformable membrane. A second stage of control or interaction 31 elements makes it possible to control relative displacement of 32 the two elements and thus to cause the membrane to be deformed 33 locally.
34 The approach to finding the solution consisted in looking for means of controlling the local deformations of the membrane
5 22922999.2 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 (movement of the control or interaction elements is transformed 2 in full into local deformation at the membrane) and of achieving 3 them with sufficiently distributed stiffness. It then appeared 4 that a two-stage structure, combining the force actuators with rigid and flexible link means could make it possible to generate
6 mini secondary membranes at the deformation elements. These mini
7 membranes could then be linked to the reflective membrane via
8 rigid link means so as to transmit deformation in full to the
9 reflective membrane while also distributing the stiffness of the mirror.
11 To this end, the invention provides a deformable mirror 12 comprising a deformable membrane with a reflective outer face and 13 an opposite face, a rigid support plate, and at least one force 14 actuator. Each actuator comprises at least two elements suitable for interacting with each other remotely so as to generate a 16 force in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the 17 surface of the initially non-deformed membrane, and suitable for 18 being displaced relative to each other in the direction of said 19 generated force so as to cause said membrane to be deformed locally. One of the two elements is incorporated into the 21 support plate and the other element is coupled to said membrane.
22 One of said two elements is suitable for controlling the 23 intensity of said generated force. According to the invention, 24 the mirror further comprises reference means coupled to said membrane via a plurality of links, each of which comprises at 26 least one rigid link means and at least one flexible link means.
27 Each rigid link means is connected to said membrane, each 28 flexible link means is connected at least in part to the 29 reference means, and said reference means are common to said plurality of links.
31 In the present patent, two elements are said to be "coupled"
32 together when they are interconnected, not necessarily directly 33 but optionally via other elements. Two elements are said to be 34 "connected" together when the interconnection is direct and without any intermediate element.
22079986.1 6 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 The force actuator comprises a control first element 2 suitable for controlling the intensity of the generated force, 3 and an interaction second element suitable for interacting 4 remotely with the control element to generate said force. The force results from the interaction of the two elements and does 6 not exist without their mutual presence. One of the two elements 7 is securely fastened to a rigid plate while the other is fastened 8 to a flexible surface, so that the generated force causes only 9 the element that is fastened to a flexible surface to be displaced. That element may be the control element or the 11 interaction element depending on the various embodiments of the 12 invention.
13 This feature makes it possible, for each deformation 14 element, to constitute a mini secondary membrane constituted by limiting the flexible link means. Each mini membrane can then 16 deform almost independently from the others, under the effect of 17 the displacement of one element of the associated force actuator.
18 This deformation is transmitted in full to the reflective 19 membrane via the rigid link means.
Finally, such a feature makes it possible to place the 21 various elements of a force actuator as far away as possible from 22 the membrane. This makes it possible to prevent dust that is 23 attracted by the control or interaction elements, in particular 24 when electromagnets and permanent magnets are used, from coming to stick to the reflective membrane. Otherwise, such build-up of 26 dust would reduce the optical quality of the mirror.
27 Advantageously, the element of the force actuator that is 28 suitable for controlling the generated force is incorporated into 29 the support plate. In which case, the control elements are spaced apart from the remainder of the mirror, thereby making it 31 possible to prevent operation of them from causing thermal 32 expansion of other component parts of the mirror.
33 Advantageously, at least one rigid link means is fastened 34 via one end to the opposite face of the membrane and via another end to the reference means. This type of link makes it possible 36 to have rigid link means outside the working zone defined by the 22079986.1 7 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 actuators so as to reduce the size of the working zone to the 2 bare minimum, that zone then being smaller than the suspended 3 portion of the reflective membrane.
4 Advantageously, at least one rigid link means is fastened via one end to the opposite face of the membrane and via another 6 end to a flexible link means. The stiffness is thus better 7 distributed by associating rigid and flexible link means where 8 there are not necessarily any actuators.
9 In a particular embodiment, the reference means are fastened to the support plate.
11 In another particular embodiment, the reference means 12 comprise an intermediate support plate disposed between the 13 membrane and the support plate. Since the mirror then has two 14 support plates, it is possible to perform maintenance operations on one element of the mirror without risking damaging another 16 element, in particular a fragile membrane. In particular, it is 17 possible, for example, to replace a single actuator without 18 damaging the membrane, which nevertheless requires a minimum 19 amount of precaution to be taken.
Preferably, the intermediate support plate is provided with 21 a set of openings, at least one force actuator being coupled to 22 at least one of the openings. The interaction, e.g.
23 electromagnetic interaction, is thus facilitated between the two 24 elements of the force actuator, since the two elements of the actuator are thus not separated by the plate.
26 When the intermediate support plate is provided with at 27 least one opening, a rigid link means is advantageously disposed 28 at an opening and is fastened via one end to the opposite face of 29 the membrane and via another end to the element of at least one force actuator that is coupled to the opening. The deformation 31 element is thus remote relative to the membrane, the rigid link 32 means transforming the displacement of the deformation element in 33 full into local deformation of the membrane.
34 In which case, in a particular embodiment, at least one flexible link means is disposed at an opening and is fastened to 22079986.1 8 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 the element of at least one force actuator that is coupled to the 2 opening.
3 In another embodiment, at least one flexible link means is 4 disposed at an opening and is fastened to at least one rigid link means. This makes it possible to distribute the stiffness better 6 outside the zones in which there are no actuators, including 7 between the actuators.
8 In another embodiment, the element of at least one force 9 actuator that is coupled to an opening is fastened to the opposite face of the membrane. In this way, there are a 11 plurality of actuators for which no rigid link means are used.
12 Advantageously, at least one flexible link means is disposed 13 at an opening and is of size greater than the size of the 14 opening. This makes it possible to have a contact area that is sufficiently large between the arrangement plate and the flexible 16 link means.
17 Advantageously, at least one element of at least one force 18 actuator that is coupled to an opening is of size smaller than 19 the size of the opening. This makes it possible to improve the interaction between the two elements of a force actuator and 21 optionally to dispose the element inside the opening.
22 In a particular embodiment, the element of at least one 23 force actuator that is coupled to an opening and that is of size 24 smaller than the size of the opening is disposed inside said opening.
26 In order to ensure that the interaction between the control 27 and interaction elements is optimum, at least one element of at 28 least one force actuator that is coupled to an opening and that 29 is of size smaller than the size of the opening is disposed outside the opening.
31 Advantageously, the force actuators are disposed in a 32 uniformly distributed matrix layout. The actuators can thus be 33 disposed optimally so as to avoid discontinuities in the 34 influence of each actuator on the deformation.
22079986.1 9 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 In a particular embodiment, the force actuator element 2 suitable for controlling the intensity of the generated force is 3 an electromagnet.
4 In a particular embodiment, the element of the force actuator that is suitable for remotely interacting with the 6 element suitable for controlling the generated force is a 7 permanent magnet.
8 In a particular embodiment of the flexible link means, the 9 flexible link means comprise at least one flexible film covered with an adhesive material. This flexible film acts as a flexible 11 link. The adhesive material may be disposed on the film only at 12 the zones where fastening to another element is to be performed.
13 Advantageously, the flexible link means that are disposed on 14 the same side of the reference means are constituted by a flexible film covering all of said flexible link means. This 16 avoids having to make a plurality of small films, but it makes it 17 possible to pool some of the flexible link means.
18 Advantageously, the rigid link means are constituted by 19 rigid rods. This makes it possible to have link means that are simple, rigid and provided with two ends for associating the 21 membrane with the intermediate support plate.
22 Advantageously, the rigid link means are fastened to the 23 opposite face of the membrane via spots of an adhesive that is 24 flexible in a direction perpendicular to the generated force and that is rigid in the direction of said generated force. Such a 26 spot of adhesive makes it possible to impart a plurality of 27 degrees of freedom to the interaction between the rigid link 28 means and the membrane. Said membrane does not deform in the 29 direction of the force but rather only in a perpendicular direction. The movement of the actuator is thus transmitted in 31 full.
32 Advantageously, all of the rigid link means are fastened to 33 the opposite face of the membrane via a layer of an adhesive that 34 is flexible in a direction perpendicular to said generated force, and that is rigid in the direction of said generated force, 22079986.1 10 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 covering the opposite face of the membrane, thereby simplifying 2 bonding the rigid link means to the membrane with adhesive.
3 Advantageously, the rigid link means are fastened on the 4 side opposite from the opposite face of the membrane via spots of rigid adhesive. This ensures that the displacement of the 6 deformation element is transmitted in full for locally deforming 7 the membrane.
8 Advantageously, for reasons of facilitating repair or 9 maintenance, the support plate and the intermediate support plate are mechanically disunited. It is thus simpler to work on the 11 control elements, or indeed on some other component part of the 12 mirror, provided that certain precautions are taken.
13 In order to save space while also fastening the control 14 elements even more securely to the support plate, the elements of the force actuators that are incorporated into the support plate 16 are engaged in said support plate. It is thus possible to ensure 17 that only the deformation elements are displaceable.
18 In order to avoid having non-uniform deformations depending 19 on the zones considered on the mirror, the support plate is plane, and the intermediate support plate is plane.
21 In a particular embodiment, control of the elements of the 22 force actuators that are suitable for controlling the intensity 23 of the generated force is servo-controlled electrically.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
26 The invention can be well understood on reading the detailed 27 description of non-limiting embodiments, accompanied by figures, 28 in which:
29 = Figure 1 is a diagram of a first embodiment of a deformable mirror having force actuators and distributed 31 stiffness of the invention;
32 = Figure 2 is a plan view of an arrangement plate of the 33 invention; and 34 = Figures 3 to 11 are diagrams respectively of second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth 22079986.1 11 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 embodiments of a deformable mirror having force actuators and 2 distributed stiffness of the invention.
Figure 1 is a diagram of a first embodiment of a deformable 6 mirror having force actuators and distributed stiffness of the 7 invention.
8 This deformable mirror 1 is made up of:
9 = a deformable membrane 2;
= force actuators, each of which comprises a control element 11 5 and a deformation element 6;
12 = a support plate 7;
13 = an intermediate support plate 8; and 14 = links comprising - rigid link means 10; and 16 - flexible link means 11.
17 The deformable membrane 2 is an optical substrate having a 18 reflective face 3 and an opposite face 4. It is made of a 19 material of the silicon type and has a thickness typically lying in the range 5 micrometers (Am) to 30 Am. In another embodiment, 21 it is made of Kapton. Reflective surface treatment is deposited 22 on the outer face 3 so as to perform the reflective function.
23 This treatment is adapted to the desired use.
24 The control elements 5 and the deformation elements 6 form force actuators making it possible to cause the membrane of the 26 mirror to deform locally. In this embodiment, the force 27 actuators are of the electromagnetic type. The control elements 28 5 are thus electromagnets, e.g. coils made of copper, and the 29 deformation elements 6 are permanent magnets, e.g. made of samarium-neodymium.
31 Each magnetic force actuator thus comprises a pair made up 32 of an electromagnet 5 and of a permanent magnet 6. This pair is 33 suitable for generating a force in a direction substantially 34 perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed membrane. The magnet is suitable for being displaced in the 36 direction of the magnetic force. For this purpose, each electro-22079986.1 12 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 magnet 5 is disposed facing the permanent magnet 6 with which it 2 is associated, along an axis perpendicular to the surface of the 3 initially non-deformed membrane 2. In addition, each 4 electromagnet 5 is securely fastened to the support plate 7 while each permanent magnet 6 is fastened only to a flexible link 6 means. Only the permanent magnet 6 can thus be displaced under 7 the effect of the magnetic force resulting from the interaction 8 between the electro-magnet and the permanent magnet.
9 In another embodiment, it is the permanent magnet 6 that is securely fastened to the support plate 7 and it is the 11 electromagnet 5 that is fastened to a flexible link means. Only 12 the electromagnet 5 can then be displaced under the effect of the 13 magnetic force.
14 The electromagnet 5 is controlled by modulating the current flowing through it. A Laplace force is then generated by 16 interaction with the permanent magnet 6. This force repels or 17 attracts the permanent magnet 6, thereby causing it to be 18 displaced, and then causing the local deformation of the membrane 19 2.
Naturally, the person skilled in the art can adapt the 21 present embodiment to force actuators of a non-magnetic type 22 without going beyond the ambit of the invention.
23 The support plate 7 is a rigid and plane mechanical plate.
24 For example, it may be made of aluminum or indeed of an aluminum-brass alloy.
26 The electromagnets 5 are engaged in holes provided in the 27 support plate 7. The electromagnets are thus even further away 28 from the remainder of the component elements of the mirror, 29 thereby enabling them to suffer even less from the thermal expansion phenomenon caused by operation of the electromagnets.
31 In another embodiment, the electromagnets 5 are not engaged in 32 but rather are merely deposited on the support plate 7.
33 The intermediate support plate 8 is a rigid and plane 34 mechanical plate. For example, it may be made of aluminum. It constitutes the reference means for the permanent magnets, so 22079986.1 13 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 that said permanent magnets have a reference that is stationary 2 relative to the electromagnets with which they are associated.
3 This intermediate support plate 8 is provided with a set of 4 openings 9 in order to arrange the permanent magnets 6 on the support plate. Each magnet is disposed inside an opening. Each 6 opening is disposed facing the electromagnet 5 with which the 7 permanent magnet 6 disposed inside it is associated, along the 8 axis perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed 9 membrane 2.
The openings 9 are of size larger than the size of the 11 permanent magnets 6 in order to enable said permanent magnets to 12 be inserted into the openings. They are also of shape identical 13 to the shape of the permanent magnets that are advantageously of 14 circular shape.
With reference to Figure 2, which is a plan view of an 16 example of an arrangement plate of the invention, the openings 9 17 are disposed in the plate 8 in a geometrical shape guaranteeing 18 that the force actuators are confined, thereby making it possible 19 to reduce the inter-actuator distance within the mirror.
The force actuators and the openings are advantageously 21 disposed such that, in projection, they occupy the entire 22 covering surface of the membrane 2, in a uniformly distributed 23 matrix layout, as shown in Figure 2. The influence of each of 24 the actuators on the deformation of each of the corresponding zones of the membrane is thus identical. The inter-actuator 26 distance is typically about 2.5 millimeters (mm). Other 27 configurations of actuators and openings are also possible, in 28 particular in a hexagonal or rectangular shape.
29 Each rigid link means 10 is associated with a force actuator so that the displacement of the permanent magnet is transmitted 31 in full to the membrane 2 in the form of a local deformation.
32 For this purpose, each rigid link means 10 is constituted by a 33 rigid rod made, for example, of silica. This rigid rod is 34 connected at its ends respectively, at one end, to the opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 and, at the other end, to the associated 36 permanent magnet 6. It typically has a diameter lying in the 22079986.1 14 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 range 50 Am to 300 Am, and a length lying in the range 50 Am to 2 5000 Am.
3 The person skilled in the art can observe that, since the 4 size of the rigid rods 10 is much smaller than the diameter of the permanent magnets 6, the imprint phenomenon on the reflective 6 face 3 is made all the smaller.
7 In order for the displacement of the magnet to be 8 transformed in full into local deformation, each rigid link means 9 10 is fastened to the opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 by means of a spot of flexible adhesive 13 allowing enough degrees of 11 freedom so that the membrane can be deformed locally. Similarly, 12 each rigid link means 10 is fastened to the center of the 13 associated permanent magnet 6 by a spot of rigid adhesive 12.
14 Thus, each permanent magnet 6 is linked to the membrane 2 in rigid manner, thereby making it possible to maintain fixed the 16 distance between the center of the magnet 6 and that zone of the 17 opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 to which the rod 10 is bonded 18 with adhesive, thus transforming the displacement of the magnet 19 in full into local deformation of the membrane.
The adhesive used for the spots of rigid adhesive 12 is 21 chosen from adhesives having low thermal expansion so as to be 22 protected from the heat dissipation caused by the electromagnets 23 5. Their low thermal expansion prevents them from deforming 24 under the Joule effect of the electromagnets and therefore avoids uncontrollable deformation of the membrane 2. An appropriate 26 adhesive for the spots of rigid adhesive 12 may be chosen from 27 the family of epoxy adhesives, known for their low thermal 28 expansion.
29 The adhesive used for the spots of flexible adhesive 13 is made of silicone because it is slightly more flexible, thereby 31 enabling the membrane to deform by turning a little, while also 32 being sufficiently rigid in the direction perpendicular to the 33 direction of the force generated by the actuator so that the 34 displacement of the permanent magnet 6 is transmitted in full to the membrane 2. The flexible adhesive used is advantageously 36 uniform so as to distribute the stiffness better, as mentioned in 22079986.1 15 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 the seventh embodiment described below with reference to 2 Figure 8.
3 The permanent magnets 6 are disposed only in the openings 9 4 in the plate 8, which openings are of size greater than the size of the magnets. The flexible link means 11 thus interconnect the 6 arrangement plate 8 and the permanent magnets 6. They are made 7 of a material that is insensitive to magnetic field in order to 8 prevent them from being deformed under the effect of the 9 electromagnets 5. In the present embodiment, these means 11 are constituted by a flexible plastics film 14 entirely covering the 11 arrangement plate 8. The material for making this film is chosen 12 from the family of silicones or of polymers that have high 13 elasticity. Adhesive is disposed on the edges and on the center 14 of the film, in order to bond thereto the permanent magnet and the edges of the opening associated with the magnet.
16 In a particular embodiment, the film 14 is a heat-reflective 17 film, thereby making it possible to send the heat given off by 18 the electromagnets back towards them, and thus to procure a 19 thermal mirror.
The top face of the film 14 is bonded with adhesive to the 21 bottom face of the intermediate support plate 8. At the openings 22 9, the top face of the film 14 is bonded with adhesive to the 23 bottom faces of the permanent magnets 6.
24 The additional rigidity procured by said film may be parameterized by its thickness and by the diameter of the opening 26 9, for other parameters remaining constant. The stroke decreases 27 when the quantity of material increases, because the rigidity 28 increases. In addition, when the diameter of the opening 29 increases, the rigidity of the membrane decreases.
The flexible link means 11 constituted in this way can act 31 as a secondary membrane relative to the reflective membrane 2.
32 Under the effect of the movement of the permanent magnets, the 33 film 14 deforms locally like a flexible membrane, and this 34 deformation is transmitted to the reflective membrane 2 via the rigid rods 10.
22079986.1 16 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 More precisely, insofar as the film 14 is bonded by adhesive 2 to the intermediate support plate 8 at the places where it is not 3 bonded with adhesive to a permanent magnet 6, said film 14 is 4 deformed at a permanent magnet independently from the remainder of the film deposited at other permanent magnets. Thus, at an 6 opening 9, the film 14 acts as a mini secondary membrane defined 7 by said opening. Each mini membrane can thus be deformed 8 independently from the other mini membranes, under the effect of 9 the displacement of the associated magnet.
All of the component elements of a unit for actuating the 11 mirror, which unit is made up of a force actuator and of rigid 12 link and flexible link means, also offer the advantage of being 13 easily reproducible, thereby making it possible to facilitate 14 mass production compared with prior art deformable mirrors that are more complex or that use mechanical parts that are more 16 difficult to manipulate.
17 When making the deformable mirror 1 industrially, the 18 support plate 7 for supporting the electromagnets 5 is mounted in 19 a first mechanical assembly. The remaining components of the mirror, namely the membrane 2, the intermediate support plate 8 21 for supporting the permanent magnets 6, the rigid link means 10 22 and the flexible link means 11, are mounted in a second 23 mechanical assembly. The two assemblies are formed independently 24 from each other and are then secured together by means of screws.
The support plate 7 for supporting the electromagnets 5 is thus 26 easily detachable from the remainder of the mirror, for the 27 purpose of working on said support plate, in particular on one of 28 the electromagnets, without however damaging any of the other 29 component parts of the mirror. In another embodiment, the two assemblies may be entirely and mechanically disunited.
31 Figures 3 to 11 are diagrams of various variant embodiments 32 of the invention that are described below.
33 In the second embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 3, 34 the flexible film 14 is not bonded with adhesive to the bottom faces of the permanent magnets 6, but rather to their top faces.
36 The rigid rods 10, and the spots of adhesive 12 transpierce the 22079986.1 17 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 film 14. The permanent magnets 6 are thus no longer disposed 2 inside the openings but rather outside said openings.
3 In the third embodiment of the invention that is shown in 4 Figure 4, the flexible link means 11 are constituted by a set of flexible films 15, 15', 15" of size greater than the size of the 6 openings 9 of the intermediate support plate 8. Each flexible 7 film is associated with an opening in the intermediate support 8 plate at which a permanent magnet is disposed. Each flexible 9 film 15, 15', 15" is connected firstly to the plate 8 and secondly to the permanent magnet 6, 6', 6" with which it is 11 associated.
12 The material for making these mini films 15, 15', 15" may be 13 identical to the material used for making the flexible film 14 of 14 the above-described first embodiment, e.g. a silicone or a polymer.
16 These flexible films 15, 15', 15" act as secondary membranes 17 relative to the reflective membrane 2. Insofar as they are 18 physically independent, each film is deformed at the permanent 19 magnet with which it is associated independently from the other films. Each film 15, 15', 15" thus acts even more as a mini 21 secondary membrane defined by the associated opening 9, 9', 9"
22 and is suitable for deforming independently from the others, 23 under the effect of the associated permanent magnet.
24 In the fourth embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 5, the flexible link means 11 are constituted by a set of flexible 26 films 15, 15', 15". Each film is bonded with adhesive to the top 27 faces of the permanent magnets 6. The rigid rods 10, and the 28 spots of adhesive 12 transpierce the film 14. In another 29 embodiment, the rigid rods do not transpierce the film.
In the fifth embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 6, 31 one permanent magnet 6 is bonded directly to the reflective 32 membrane 2 via a spot of flexible adhesive 13'. A rigid rod 10 33 is fastened to a flexible film 15 that is itself bonded with 34 adhesive via its bottom face to the arrangement plate 8 at an opening. Another rigid rod 10' is fastened to a flexible film 36 15' that is itself bonded with adhesive via its bottom face to 22079986.1 18 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 the arrangement plate 8 over a zone not provided with any 2 opening.
3 In the sixth embodiment shown in Figure 7, a permanent 4 magnet 6 is disposed between a rigid link means 10' and a flexible film 15' in a manner identical to the above-described 6 first embodiment of the invention. A rigid rod 10 is fastened to 7 a flexible film 15 that is itself bonded with adhesive via its 8 top face to the arrangement plate 8 at an opening. Another rigid 9 rod 10" is fastened to a flexible film 15" that is itself bonded with adhesive via its top face to the arrangement plate 8 at an 11 opening.
12 In the seventh embodiment of the invention shown in 13 Figure 8, the spots of flexible adhesive 13 have been replaced 14 with a layer of flexible adhesive 16 covering the opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 over its entire length. The feature makes it 16 simple to bond the elements to the membrane.
17 In the eighth embodiment shown in Figure 9, the flexible 18 film 15 is not bonded directly to the top face of the associated 19 permanent magnet 6. The rigid rod 10 transpierces the film 14.
In order to guarantee stability for the rigid rod 10 and thus for 21 the permanent magnet 6, an additional spot of rigid adhesive 16 22 is disposed on the top face of the flexible film 15 and against 23 the wall of the rigid rod 10 above the flexible film 15.
24 In the ninth embodiment of the invention that is shown in Figure 10, the permanent magnets 6 and the electromagnets 5 are 26 inverted. It is therefore still the electromagnets that control 27 the intensity of the force generated but it is also the 28 electromagnets that are suitable for being displaced under the 29 effect of this magnetic force because they are connected only to flexible link means. The permanent magnets are fastened to the 31 support plate 7. This embodiment is not, however, preferred, 32 insofar as the embodiment with the electromagnets fastened to the 33 support plate makes it possible to space them apart from the 34 remainder of the structure, and to avoid thermal expansion phenomena due to operation of the electromagnets.
22079986.1 19 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 In the tenth embodiment of the invention that is shown in 2 Figure 11, the intermediate support plate 8 is fastened to the 3 support plate 7 and may even be made in one piece with said 4 support plate 7. The intermediate support plate 8 is provided with openings 9 in order to space the electromagnets apart from 6 the remainder of the mirror so as to limit the consequences of 7 the thermal expansion phenomenon.
8 The structure of a deformable mirror in the above-described 9 embodiments of the present invention makes it possible to increase the passband of the mirror and thus to build deformable 11 mirrors having a very large number of actuators. This structure 12 makes it easier to choose the optimum material for the secondary 13 membrane - or for the flexible link means. The diameter of said 14 membrane may be adapted to determine the additional rigidity.
Since the rigidity varies as a function of the diameter of the 16 membrane, it is thus made all the simpler to increase the 17 rigidity of the deformable mirror.
18 The above-described embodiments of the present invention are 19 given by way of example and are in no way limiting. Naturally, the person skilled in the art can implement various variants of 21 the invention without going beyond the ambit of the invention.
22 Finally, the invention may also be implemented to give an 23 initial shape to a mirror, e.g. with rigid rods of various 24 lengths. The initial shape given to the mirror may be modified subsequently or fixed once and for all.
22079986.1 20
11 To this end, the invention provides a deformable mirror 12 comprising a deformable membrane with a reflective outer face and 13 an opposite face, a rigid support plate, and at least one force 14 actuator. Each actuator comprises at least two elements suitable for interacting with each other remotely so as to generate a 16 force in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the 17 surface of the initially non-deformed membrane, and suitable for 18 being displaced relative to each other in the direction of said 19 generated force so as to cause said membrane to be deformed locally. One of the two elements is incorporated into the 21 support plate and the other element is coupled to said membrane.
22 One of said two elements is suitable for controlling the 23 intensity of said generated force. According to the invention, 24 the mirror further comprises reference means coupled to said membrane via a plurality of links, each of which comprises at 26 least one rigid link means and at least one flexible link means.
27 Each rigid link means is connected to said membrane, each 28 flexible link means is connected at least in part to the 29 reference means, and said reference means are common to said plurality of links.
31 In the present patent, two elements are said to be "coupled"
32 together when they are interconnected, not necessarily directly 33 but optionally via other elements. Two elements are said to be 34 "connected" together when the interconnection is direct and without any intermediate element.
22079986.1 6 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 The force actuator comprises a control first element 2 suitable for controlling the intensity of the generated force, 3 and an interaction second element suitable for interacting 4 remotely with the control element to generate said force. The force results from the interaction of the two elements and does 6 not exist without their mutual presence. One of the two elements 7 is securely fastened to a rigid plate while the other is fastened 8 to a flexible surface, so that the generated force causes only 9 the element that is fastened to a flexible surface to be displaced. That element may be the control element or the 11 interaction element depending on the various embodiments of the 12 invention.
13 This feature makes it possible, for each deformation 14 element, to constitute a mini secondary membrane constituted by limiting the flexible link means. Each mini membrane can then 16 deform almost independently from the others, under the effect of 17 the displacement of one element of the associated force actuator.
18 This deformation is transmitted in full to the reflective 19 membrane via the rigid link means.
Finally, such a feature makes it possible to place the 21 various elements of a force actuator as far away as possible from 22 the membrane. This makes it possible to prevent dust that is 23 attracted by the control or interaction elements, in particular 24 when electromagnets and permanent magnets are used, from coming to stick to the reflective membrane. Otherwise, such build-up of 26 dust would reduce the optical quality of the mirror.
27 Advantageously, the element of the force actuator that is 28 suitable for controlling the generated force is incorporated into 29 the support plate. In which case, the control elements are spaced apart from the remainder of the mirror, thereby making it 31 possible to prevent operation of them from causing thermal 32 expansion of other component parts of the mirror.
33 Advantageously, at least one rigid link means is fastened 34 via one end to the opposite face of the membrane and via another end to the reference means. This type of link makes it possible 36 to have rigid link means outside the working zone defined by the 22079986.1 7 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 actuators so as to reduce the size of the working zone to the 2 bare minimum, that zone then being smaller than the suspended 3 portion of the reflective membrane.
4 Advantageously, at least one rigid link means is fastened via one end to the opposite face of the membrane and via another 6 end to a flexible link means. The stiffness is thus better 7 distributed by associating rigid and flexible link means where 8 there are not necessarily any actuators.
9 In a particular embodiment, the reference means are fastened to the support plate.
11 In another particular embodiment, the reference means 12 comprise an intermediate support plate disposed between the 13 membrane and the support plate. Since the mirror then has two 14 support plates, it is possible to perform maintenance operations on one element of the mirror without risking damaging another 16 element, in particular a fragile membrane. In particular, it is 17 possible, for example, to replace a single actuator without 18 damaging the membrane, which nevertheless requires a minimum 19 amount of precaution to be taken.
Preferably, the intermediate support plate is provided with 21 a set of openings, at least one force actuator being coupled to 22 at least one of the openings. The interaction, e.g.
23 electromagnetic interaction, is thus facilitated between the two 24 elements of the force actuator, since the two elements of the actuator are thus not separated by the plate.
26 When the intermediate support plate is provided with at 27 least one opening, a rigid link means is advantageously disposed 28 at an opening and is fastened via one end to the opposite face of 29 the membrane and via another end to the element of at least one force actuator that is coupled to the opening. The deformation 31 element is thus remote relative to the membrane, the rigid link 32 means transforming the displacement of the deformation element in 33 full into local deformation of the membrane.
34 In which case, in a particular embodiment, at least one flexible link means is disposed at an opening and is fastened to 22079986.1 8 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 the element of at least one force actuator that is coupled to the 2 opening.
3 In another embodiment, at least one flexible link means is 4 disposed at an opening and is fastened to at least one rigid link means. This makes it possible to distribute the stiffness better 6 outside the zones in which there are no actuators, including 7 between the actuators.
8 In another embodiment, the element of at least one force 9 actuator that is coupled to an opening is fastened to the opposite face of the membrane. In this way, there are a 11 plurality of actuators for which no rigid link means are used.
12 Advantageously, at least one flexible link means is disposed 13 at an opening and is of size greater than the size of the 14 opening. This makes it possible to have a contact area that is sufficiently large between the arrangement plate and the flexible 16 link means.
17 Advantageously, at least one element of at least one force 18 actuator that is coupled to an opening is of size smaller than 19 the size of the opening. This makes it possible to improve the interaction between the two elements of a force actuator and 21 optionally to dispose the element inside the opening.
22 In a particular embodiment, the element of at least one 23 force actuator that is coupled to an opening and that is of size 24 smaller than the size of the opening is disposed inside said opening.
26 In order to ensure that the interaction between the control 27 and interaction elements is optimum, at least one element of at 28 least one force actuator that is coupled to an opening and that 29 is of size smaller than the size of the opening is disposed outside the opening.
31 Advantageously, the force actuators are disposed in a 32 uniformly distributed matrix layout. The actuators can thus be 33 disposed optimally so as to avoid discontinuities in the 34 influence of each actuator on the deformation.
22079986.1 9 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 In a particular embodiment, the force actuator element 2 suitable for controlling the intensity of the generated force is 3 an electromagnet.
4 In a particular embodiment, the element of the force actuator that is suitable for remotely interacting with the 6 element suitable for controlling the generated force is a 7 permanent magnet.
8 In a particular embodiment of the flexible link means, the 9 flexible link means comprise at least one flexible film covered with an adhesive material. This flexible film acts as a flexible 11 link. The adhesive material may be disposed on the film only at 12 the zones where fastening to another element is to be performed.
13 Advantageously, the flexible link means that are disposed on 14 the same side of the reference means are constituted by a flexible film covering all of said flexible link means. This 16 avoids having to make a plurality of small films, but it makes it 17 possible to pool some of the flexible link means.
18 Advantageously, the rigid link means are constituted by 19 rigid rods. This makes it possible to have link means that are simple, rigid and provided with two ends for associating the 21 membrane with the intermediate support plate.
22 Advantageously, the rigid link means are fastened to the 23 opposite face of the membrane via spots of an adhesive that is 24 flexible in a direction perpendicular to the generated force and that is rigid in the direction of said generated force. Such a 26 spot of adhesive makes it possible to impart a plurality of 27 degrees of freedom to the interaction between the rigid link 28 means and the membrane. Said membrane does not deform in the 29 direction of the force but rather only in a perpendicular direction. The movement of the actuator is thus transmitted in 31 full.
32 Advantageously, all of the rigid link means are fastened to 33 the opposite face of the membrane via a layer of an adhesive that 34 is flexible in a direction perpendicular to said generated force, and that is rigid in the direction of said generated force, 22079986.1 10 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 covering the opposite face of the membrane, thereby simplifying 2 bonding the rigid link means to the membrane with adhesive.
3 Advantageously, the rigid link means are fastened on the 4 side opposite from the opposite face of the membrane via spots of rigid adhesive. This ensures that the displacement of the 6 deformation element is transmitted in full for locally deforming 7 the membrane.
8 Advantageously, for reasons of facilitating repair or 9 maintenance, the support plate and the intermediate support plate are mechanically disunited. It is thus simpler to work on the 11 control elements, or indeed on some other component part of the 12 mirror, provided that certain precautions are taken.
13 In order to save space while also fastening the control 14 elements even more securely to the support plate, the elements of the force actuators that are incorporated into the support plate 16 are engaged in said support plate. It is thus possible to ensure 17 that only the deformation elements are displaceable.
18 In order to avoid having non-uniform deformations depending 19 on the zones considered on the mirror, the support plate is plane, and the intermediate support plate is plane.
21 In a particular embodiment, control of the elements of the 22 force actuators that are suitable for controlling the intensity 23 of the generated force is servo-controlled electrically.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
26 The invention can be well understood on reading the detailed 27 description of non-limiting embodiments, accompanied by figures, 28 in which:
29 = Figure 1 is a diagram of a first embodiment of a deformable mirror having force actuators and distributed 31 stiffness of the invention;
32 = Figure 2 is a plan view of an arrangement plate of the 33 invention; and 34 = Figures 3 to 11 are diagrams respectively of second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth 22079986.1 11 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 embodiments of a deformable mirror having force actuators and 2 distributed stiffness of the invention.
Figure 1 is a diagram of a first embodiment of a deformable 6 mirror having force actuators and distributed stiffness of the 7 invention.
8 This deformable mirror 1 is made up of:
9 = a deformable membrane 2;
= force actuators, each of which comprises a control element 11 5 and a deformation element 6;
12 = a support plate 7;
13 = an intermediate support plate 8; and 14 = links comprising - rigid link means 10; and 16 - flexible link means 11.
17 The deformable membrane 2 is an optical substrate having a 18 reflective face 3 and an opposite face 4. It is made of a 19 material of the silicon type and has a thickness typically lying in the range 5 micrometers (Am) to 30 Am. In another embodiment, 21 it is made of Kapton. Reflective surface treatment is deposited 22 on the outer face 3 so as to perform the reflective function.
23 This treatment is adapted to the desired use.
24 The control elements 5 and the deformation elements 6 form force actuators making it possible to cause the membrane of the 26 mirror to deform locally. In this embodiment, the force 27 actuators are of the electromagnetic type. The control elements 28 5 are thus electromagnets, e.g. coils made of copper, and the 29 deformation elements 6 are permanent magnets, e.g. made of samarium-neodymium.
31 Each magnetic force actuator thus comprises a pair made up 32 of an electromagnet 5 and of a permanent magnet 6. This pair is 33 suitable for generating a force in a direction substantially 34 perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed membrane. The magnet is suitable for being displaced in the 36 direction of the magnetic force. For this purpose, each electro-22079986.1 12 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 magnet 5 is disposed facing the permanent magnet 6 with which it 2 is associated, along an axis perpendicular to the surface of the 3 initially non-deformed membrane 2. In addition, each 4 electromagnet 5 is securely fastened to the support plate 7 while each permanent magnet 6 is fastened only to a flexible link 6 means. Only the permanent magnet 6 can thus be displaced under 7 the effect of the magnetic force resulting from the interaction 8 between the electro-magnet and the permanent magnet.
9 In another embodiment, it is the permanent magnet 6 that is securely fastened to the support plate 7 and it is the 11 electromagnet 5 that is fastened to a flexible link means. Only 12 the electromagnet 5 can then be displaced under the effect of the 13 magnetic force.
14 The electromagnet 5 is controlled by modulating the current flowing through it. A Laplace force is then generated by 16 interaction with the permanent magnet 6. This force repels or 17 attracts the permanent magnet 6, thereby causing it to be 18 displaced, and then causing the local deformation of the membrane 19 2.
Naturally, the person skilled in the art can adapt the 21 present embodiment to force actuators of a non-magnetic type 22 without going beyond the ambit of the invention.
23 The support plate 7 is a rigid and plane mechanical plate.
24 For example, it may be made of aluminum or indeed of an aluminum-brass alloy.
26 The electromagnets 5 are engaged in holes provided in the 27 support plate 7. The electromagnets are thus even further away 28 from the remainder of the component elements of the mirror, 29 thereby enabling them to suffer even less from the thermal expansion phenomenon caused by operation of the electromagnets.
31 In another embodiment, the electromagnets 5 are not engaged in 32 but rather are merely deposited on the support plate 7.
33 The intermediate support plate 8 is a rigid and plane 34 mechanical plate. For example, it may be made of aluminum. It constitutes the reference means for the permanent magnets, so 22079986.1 13 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 that said permanent magnets have a reference that is stationary 2 relative to the electromagnets with which they are associated.
3 This intermediate support plate 8 is provided with a set of 4 openings 9 in order to arrange the permanent magnets 6 on the support plate. Each magnet is disposed inside an opening. Each 6 opening is disposed facing the electromagnet 5 with which the 7 permanent magnet 6 disposed inside it is associated, along the 8 axis perpendicular to the surface of the initially non-deformed 9 membrane 2.
The openings 9 are of size larger than the size of the 11 permanent magnets 6 in order to enable said permanent magnets to 12 be inserted into the openings. They are also of shape identical 13 to the shape of the permanent magnets that are advantageously of 14 circular shape.
With reference to Figure 2, which is a plan view of an 16 example of an arrangement plate of the invention, the openings 9 17 are disposed in the plate 8 in a geometrical shape guaranteeing 18 that the force actuators are confined, thereby making it possible 19 to reduce the inter-actuator distance within the mirror.
The force actuators and the openings are advantageously 21 disposed such that, in projection, they occupy the entire 22 covering surface of the membrane 2, in a uniformly distributed 23 matrix layout, as shown in Figure 2. The influence of each of 24 the actuators on the deformation of each of the corresponding zones of the membrane is thus identical. The inter-actuator 26 distance is typically about 2.5 millimeters (mm). Other 27 configurations of actuators and openings are also possible, in 28 particular in a hexagonal or rectangular shape.
29 Each rigid link means 10 is associated with a force actuator so that the displacement of the permanent magnet is transmitted 31 in full to the membrane 2 in the form of a local deformation.
32 For this purpose, each rigid link means 10 is constituted by a 33 rigid rod made, for example, of silica. This rigid rod is 34 connected at its ends respectively, at one end, to the opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 and, at the other end, to the associated 36 permanent magnet 6. It typically has a diameter lying in the 22079986.1 14 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 range 50 Am to 300 Am, and a length lying in the range 50 Am to 2 5000 Am.
3 The person skilled in the art can observe that, since the 4 size of the rigid rods 10 is much smaller than the diameter of the permanent magnets 6, the imprint phenomenon on the reflective 6 face 3 is made all the smaller.
7 In order for the displacement of the magnet to be 8 transformed in full into local deformation, each rigid link means 9 10 is fastened to the opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 by means of a spot of flexible adhesive 13 allowing enough degrees of 11 freedom so that the membrane can be deformed locally. Similarly, 12 each rigid link means 10 is fastened to the center of the 13 associated permanent magnet 6 by a spot of rigid adhesive 12.
14 Thus, each permanent magnet 6 is linked to the membrane 2 in rigid manner, thereby making it possible to maintain fixed the 16 distance between the center of the magnet 6 and that zone of the 17 opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 to which the rod 10 is bonded 18 with adhesive, thus transforming the displacement of the magnet 19 in full into local deformation of the membrane.
The adhesive used for the spots of rigid adhesive 12 is 21 chosen from adhesives having low thermal expansion so as to be 22 protected from the heat dissipation caused by the electromagnets 23 5. Their low thermal expansion prevents them from deforming 24 under the Joule effect of the electromagnets and therefore avoids uncontrollable deformation of the membrane 2. An appropriate 26 adhesive for the spots of rigid adhesive 12 may be chosen from 27 the family of epoxy adhesives, known for their low thermal 28 expansion.
29 The adhesive used for the spots of flexible adhesive 13 is made of silicone because it is slightly more flexible, thereby 31 enabling the membrane to deform by turning a little, while also 32 being sufficiently rigid in the direction perpendicular to the 33 direction of the force generated by the actuator so that the 34 displacement of the permanent magnet 6 is transmitted in full to the membrane 2. The flexible adhesive used is advantageously 36 uniform so as to distribute the stiffness better, as mentioned in 22079986.1 15 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 the seventh embodiment described below with reference to 2 Figure 8.
3 The permanent magnets 6 are disposed only in the openings 9 4 in the plate 8, which openings are of size greater than the size of the magnets. The flexible link means 11 thus interconnect the 6 arrangement plate 8 and the permanent magnets 6. They are made 7 of a material that is insensitive to magnetic field in order to 8 prevent them from being deformed under the effect of the 9 electromagnets 5. In the present embodiment, these means 11 are constituted by a flexible plastics film 14 entirely covering the 11 arrangement plate 8. The material for making this film is chosen 12 from the family of silicones or of polymers that have high 13 elasticity. Adhesive is disposed on the edges and on the center 14 of the film, in order to bond thereto the permanent magnet and the edges of the opening associated with the magnet.
16 In a particular embodiment, the film 14 is a heat-reflective 17 film, thereby making it possible to send the heat given off by 18 the electromagnets back towards them, and thus to procure a 19 thermal mirror.
The top face of the film 14 is bonded with adhesive to the 21 bottom face of the intermediate support plate 8. At the openings 22 9, the top face of the film 14 is bonded with adhesive to the 23 bottom faces of the permanent magnets 6.
24 The additional rigidity procured by said film may be parameterized by its thickness and by the diameter of the opening 26 9, for other parameters remaining constant. The stroke decreases 27 when the quantity of material increases, because the rigidity 28 increases. In addition, when the diameter of the opening 29 increases, the rigidity of the membrane decreases.
The flexible link means 11 constituted in this way can act 31 as a secondary membrane relative to the reflective membrane 2.
32 Under the effect of the movement of the permanent magnets, the 33 film 14 deforms locally like a flexible membrane, and this 34 deformation is transmitted to the reflective membrane 2 via the rigid rods 10.
22079986.1 16 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 More precisely, insofar as the film 14 is bonded by adhesive 2 to the intermediate support plate 8 at the places where it is not 3 bonded with adhesive to a permanent magnet 6, said film 14 is 4 deformed at a permanent magnet independently from the remainder of the film deposited at other permanent magnets. Thus, at an 6 opening 9, the film 14 acts as a mini secondary membrane defined 7 by said opening. Each mini membrane can thus be deformed 8 independently from the other mini membranes, under the effect of 9 the displacement of the associated magnet.
All of the component elements of a unit for actuating the 11 mirror, which unit is made up of a force actuator and of rigid 12 link and flexible link means, also offer the advantage of being 13 easily reproducible, thereby making it possible to facilitate 14 mass production compared with prior art deformable mirrors that are more complex or that use mechanical parts that are more 16 difficult to manipulate.
17 When making the deformable mirror 1 industrially, the 18 support plate 7 for supporting the electromagnets 5 is mounted in 19 a first mechanical assembly. The remaining components of the mirror, namely the membrane 2, the intermediate support plate 8 21 for supporting the permanent magnets 6, the rigid link means 10 22 and the flexible link means 11, are mounted in a second 23 mechanical assembly. The two assemblies are formed independently 24 from each other and are then secured together by means of screws.
The support plate 7 for supporting the electromagnets 5 is thus 26 easily detachable from the remainder of the mirror, for the 27 purpose of working on said support plate, in particular on one of 28 the electromagnets, without however damaging any of the other 29 component parts of the mirror. In another embodiment, the two assemblies may be entirely and mechanically disunited.
31 Figures 3 to 11 are diagrams of various variant embodiments 32 of the invention that are described below.
33 In the second embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 3, 34 the flexible film 14 is not bonded with adhesive to the bottom faces of the permanent magnets 6, but rather to their top faces.
36 The rigid rods 10, and the spots of adhesive 12 transpierce the 22079986.1 17 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 film 14. The permanent magnets 6 are thus no longer disposed 2 inside the openings but rather outside said openings.
3 In the third embodiment of the invention that is shown in 4 Figure 4, the flexible link means 11 are constituted by a set of flexible films 15, 15', 15" of size greater than the size of the 6 openings 9 of the intermediate support plate 8. Each flexible 7 film is associated with an opening in the intermediate support 8 plate at which a permanent magnet is disposed. Each flexible 9 film 15, 15', 15" is connected firstly to the plate 8 and secondly to the permanent magnet 6, 6', 6" with which it is 11 associated.
12 The material for making these mini films 15, 15', 15" may be 13 identical to the material used for making the flexible film 14 of 14 the above-described first embodiment, e.g. a silicone or a polymer.
16 These flexible films 15, 15', 15" act as secondary membranes 17 relative to the reflective membrane 2. Insofar as they are 18 physically independent, each film is deformed at the permanent 19 magnet with which it is associated independently from the other films. Each film 15, 15', 15" thus acts even more as a mini 21 secondary membrane defined by the associated opening 9, 9', 9"
22 and is suitable for deforming independently from the others, 23 under the effect of the associated permanent magnet.
24 In the fourth embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 5, the flexible link means 11 are constituted by a set of flexible 26 films 15, 15', 15". Each film is bonded with adhesive to the top 27 faces of the permanent magnets 6. The rigid rods 10, and the 28 spots of adhesive 12 transpierce the film 14. In another 29 embodiment, the rigid rods do not transpierce the film.
In the fifth embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 6, 31 one permanent magnet 6 is bonded directly to the reflective 32 membrane 2 via a spot of flexible adhesive 13'. A rigid rod 10 33 is fastened to a flexible film 15 that is itself bonded with 34 adhesive via its bottom face to the arrangement plate 8 at an opening. Another rigid rod 10' is fastened to a flexible film 36 15' that is itself bonded with adhesive via its bottom face to 22079986.1 18 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 the arrangement plate 8 over a zone not provided with any 2 opening.
3 In the sixth embodiment shown in Figure 7, a permanent 4 magnet 6 is disposed between a rigid link means 10' and a flexible film 15' in a manner identical to the above-described 6 first embodiment of the invention. A rigid rod 10 is fastened to 7 a flexible film 15 that is itself bonded with adhesive via its 8 top face to the arrangement plate 8 at an opening. Another rigid 9 rod 10" is fastened to a flexible film 15" that is itself bonded with adhesive via its top face to the arrangement plate 8 at an 11 opening.
12 In the seventh embodiment of the invention shown in 13 Figure 8, the spots of flexible adhesive 13 have been replaced 14 with a layer of flexible adhesive 16 covering the opposite face 4 of the membrane 2 over its entire length. The feature makes it 16 simple to bond the elements to the membrane.
17 In the eighth embodiment shown in Figure 9, the flexible 18 film 15 is not bonded directly to the top face of the associated 19 permanent magnet 6. The rigid rod 10 transpierces the film 14.
In order to guarantee stability for the rigid rod 10 and thus for 21 the permanent magnet 6, an additional spot of rigid adhesive 16 22 is disposed on the top face of the flexible film 15 and against 23 the wall of the rigid rod 10 above the flexible film 15.
24 In the ninth embodiment of the invention that is shown in Figure 10, the permanent magnets 6 and the electromagnets 5 are 26 inverted. It is therefore still the electromagnets that control 27 the intensity of the force generated but it is also the 28 electromagnets that are suitable for being displaced under the 29 effect of this magnetic force because they are connected only to flexible link means. The permanent magnets are fastened to the 31 support plate 7. This embodiment is not, however, preferred, 32 insofar as the embodiment with the electromagnets fastened to the 33 support plate makes it possible to space them apart from the 34 remainder of the structure, and to avoid thermal expansion phenomena due to operation of the electromagnets.
22079986.1 19 Agent Ref: 77436/00002 1 In the tenth embodiment of the invention that is shown in 2 Figure 11, the intermediate support plate 8 is fastened to the 3 support plate 7 and may even be made in one piece with said 4 support plate 7. The intermediate support plate 8 is provided with openings 9 in order to space the electromagnets apart from 6 the remainder of the mirror so as to limit the consequences of 7 the thermal expansion phenomenon.
8 The structure of a deformable mirror in the above-described 9 embodiments of the present invention makes it possible to increase the passband of the mirror and thus to build deformable 11 mirrors having a very large number of actuators. This structure 12 makes it easier to choose the optimum material for the secondary 13 membrane - or for the flexible link means. The diameter of said 14 membrane may be adapted to determine the additional rigidity.
Since the rigidity varies as a function of the diameter of the 16 membrane, it is thus made all the simpler to increase the 17 rigidity of the deformable mirror.
18 The above-described embodiments of the present invention are 19 given by way of example and are in no way limiting. Naturally, the person skilled in the art can implement various variants of 21 the invention without going beyond the ambit of the invention.
22 Finally, the invention may also be implemented to give an 23 initial shape to a mirror, e.g. with rigid rods of various 24 lengths. The initial shape given to the mirror may be modified subsequently or fixed once and for all.
22079986.1 20
Claims (28)
1. A deformable mirror (1) comprising a deformable membrane (2) with a reflective outer face (3) and an opposite face (4), a rigid support plate (7), and at least one force actuator (5, 6), each actuator (5, 6) comprising at least two elements (5, 6) suitable for interacting with each other remotely so as to generate a force in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the surface of an initially non-deformed membrane (2), and suitable for being displaced relative to each other in the direction of said generated force so as to cause said membrane (2) to be deformed locally, one of the two elements (5, 6) being incorporated into the support plate (7) and the other element being coupled to said membrane (2), one of said two elements (5, 6) being suitable for controlling the intensity of said generated force, said deformable mirror (1) being characterized in that it further comprises reference means (8) coupled to said membrane (2) via a plurality of links, each of which comprises at least one rigid link means (10) and at least one flexible link means (11), each rigid link means (10) being connected to said membrane (2), each flexible link means (11) being connected at least in part to the reference means (8), and said reference means (8) being common to said plurality of links (10, 11), wherein the reference means (8) comprises an intermediate support plate (8) disposed between the membrane (2) and the support plate (7).
2. A deformable mirror (1) according to claim 1, wherein the element (5) of the force actuator (5, 6) that is suitable for controlling the generated force is incorporated into the support plate (7).
3. A deformable mirror (1) according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein at least one rigid link means (10) is fastened via one end to the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2) and via another end to the reference means (8).
4. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one rigid link means (10) is fastened via one end to the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2) and via another end to one of the at least one flexible link means (11).
5. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims to 1 to 4, wherein the reference means (8) are fastened to the support plate (7).
6. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the intermediate support plate (8) is provided with a set of openings (9), at least one element of one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) being coupled to at least one of the openings (9).
7. A deformable mirror (1) according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the at least one rigid link means (10) is disposed at one of the openings (9) and is fastened via one end to the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2) and via another end to the element of the one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) that is coupled to the at least one of the openings (9).
8. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 6 to 7, wherein at least one of the at least one flexible link means (11) is disposed at one of the openings (9) and is fastened to the element of the one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) that is coupled to the at least one of the openings (9).
9. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein at least one of the at least one flexible link means (11) is disposed at one of the openings (9) and is fastened to one of the at least one rigid link means (10).
10. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the element of the one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) that is coupled to the at least one of the openings (9) is fastened to the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2).
11. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein at least one of the at least one flexible link means (11) is disposed at one of the openings (9) and is of size greater than the size of the at least one of the openings (9).
12. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 6 to 11, wherein at least one element of the one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) that is coupled to the at least one of the openings (9) is of size smaller than the size of the one of the openings (9).
13. A deformable mirror (1) according to claim 12, wherein the element of the one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) that is coupled to the at least one of the openings (9) and that is of size smaller than the size of the one of the openings (9) is disposed inside the one of the openings (9).
14. A deformable mirror (1) according to claim 13, wherein the element of the one of the at least one force actuator (5, 6) that is coupled to the at least one of the openings (9) and that is of size smaller than the size of the one of the openings (9) is disposed outside the one of the openings (9).
15. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the force actuators (5, 6) are disposed in a uniformly distributed matrix layout.
16. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the force actuator element (5, 6) suitable for controlling the intensity of the generated force is an electromagnet.
17. A deformable mirror (1) according to claim 16, wherein the element of the force actuator (5, 6) that is suitable for remotely interacting with the element suitable for controlling the generated force is a permanent magnet.
18. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the flexible link means (11, 11, 11") comprise at least one flexible film (14, 14, 14") covered with an adhesive material.
19. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the flexible link means (11) that are disposed on the same side of the reference means (7, 8) are constituted by a flexible film (15) covering all of said flexible link means (11).
20. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein the rigid link means (10) are constituted by rigid rods.
21. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the rigid link means (10) are fastened to the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2) via spots of an adhesive (13) that is flexible in a direction perpendicular to the generated force and that is rigid in the direction of said generated force.
22. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein all of the rigid link means (10) are fastened to the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2) via a layer of an adhesive (13) that is flexible in a direction perpendicular to said generated force, and that is rigid in the direction of said generated force, covering the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2).
23. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein the rigid link means (10) are fastened on the side opposite from the opposite face (4) of the membrane (2) via spots of rigid adhesive (12).
24. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the support plate (7) and the intermediate support plate (8) are mechanically disunited.
25. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein the elements of the force actuators (5, 6) that are incorporated into the support plate (7) are engaged in said support plate (7).
26. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 25, wherein the support plate (7) is plane.
27. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 26, wherein the intermediate support plate (8) is plane.
28. A deformable mirror (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 27, wherein control of the elements of the force actuators (5, 6) that are suitable for controlling the intensity of the generated force is servo-controlled electrically.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
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| FR08/55579 | 2008-08-14 | ||
| FR0855579A FR2935054B1 (en) | 2008-08-14 | 2008-08-14 | DEFORMABLE MIRROR WITH FORCE ACTUATORS AND DISTRIBUTED STIFFNESS |
| PCT/FR2009/001000 WO2010018326A1 (en) | 2008-08-14 | 2009-08-12 | Deformable mirror with force actuators and distributed stiffness |
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| EP (1) | EP2324387B1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JP5695565B2 (en) |
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| FR2958415B1 (en) * | 2010-04-06 | 2012-08-17 | Alpao | DEFORMABLE MIRROR WITH LOW BONDING IMPRESSION AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH MIRROR |
| FR2970787B1 (en) * | 2011-01-26 | 2014-01-10 | Alpao | DEFORMABLE MIRROR WITH CAPACITIVE SENSORS |
| CN103728722B (en) * | 2012-12-28 | 2015-12-02 | 清华大学 | Distorting lens and actuator thereof |
| CN103676141B (en) * | 2012-12-28 | 2015-12-30 | 清华大学 | Distorting lens and actuator thereof |
| CN103676138A (en) * | 2012-12-28 | 2014-03-26 | 清华大学 | Multi-layer combined thin deformable mirror body structure |
| JP5875537B2 (en) * | 2013-01-28 | 2016-03-02 | 三菱電機株式会社 | Deformable mirror device |
| JP6308790B2 (en) | 2013-02-18 | 2018-04-11 | キヤノン株式会社 | Deformable mirror and manufacturing method thereof |
| JP2014225639A (en) * | 2013-04-16 | 2014-12-04 | キヤノン株式会社 | Mirror unit and exposure apparatus |
| FR3011942B1 (en) * | 2013-10-11 | 2017-07-14 | Thales Sa | ACTIVE SPATIAL TELESCOPE WITH SUSPENDED MIRROR |
| US9552915B2 (en) | 2014-03-01 | 2017-01-24 | Maieutic Enterprises Inc. | Polymorphic surface systems and methods |
| US20160161737A1 (en) * | 2014-12-04 | 2016-06-09 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Deformable mirror, optical system including the deformable mirror, and ophthalmologic apparatus |
| CN105182529A (en) * | 2015-09-24 | 2015-12-23 | 中国科学院西安光学精密机械研究所 | Spherical metal deformable mirror and integrated processing technology thereof |
| JP6929024B2 (en) * | 2016-07-06 | 2021-09-01 | キヤノン株式会社 | Manufacturing method of optical equipment, exposure equipment and articles |
| KR101829684B1 (en) | 2016-11-07 | 2018-02-20 | 한국표준과학연구원 | Deformable mirror compensation apparatus |
| JP6854638B2 (en) * | 2016-12-21 | 2021-04-07 | キヤノン株式会社 | Manufacturing methods for optics, exposure equipment, and articles |
| US10365473B1 (en) | 2018-04-06 | 2019-07-30 | King Fahd University Of Petroleum And Minerals | Electro-magnetic actuation rotational adaptive mirror |
| US11345281B2 (en) | 2020-02-17 | 2022-05-31 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | Shape changing mirror |
| CN112068307B (en) * | 2020-09-21 | 2021-12-07 | 中国科学院长春光学精密机械与物理研究所 | Hybrid thermally-driven wavefront correction device |
| CN112596198B (en) * | 2020-12-28 | 2022-06-21 | 中国科学院长春光学精密机械与物理研究所 | Curvature error adjusting device and method for large-caliber spliced reflector |
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| FR707719A (en) | 1930-03-18 | 1931-07-11 | Cie Des Surchauffeurs | Improvements to suspension devices placed inside boilers |
| US6293680B1 (en) * | 1997-09-10 | 2001-09-25 | Thermotrex Corporation | Electromagnetically controlled deformable mirror |
| JP2001208905A (en) * | 2000-01-25 | 2001-08-03 | Olympus Optical Co Ltd | Deformable mirror |
| JP2005092175A (en) * | 2003-08-08 | 2005-04-07 | Olympus Corp | Variable optical-property optical element |
| ATE386956T1 (en) | 2003-11-21 | 2008-03-15 | Tno | SURFACE DEFORMATION ACTUATING STRUCTURE |
| FR2876460B1 (en) * | 2004-10-12 | 2007-05-18 | Centre Nat Rech Scient Cnrse | DEFORMABLE MIRROR |
| US7518780B2 (en) * | 2005-08-08 | 2009-04-14 | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Llc | Nanolaminate deformable mirrors |
| JP2007316132A (en) * | 2006-05-23 | 2007-12-06 | Canon Inc | Reflection apparatus |
| FR2923301B1 (en) | 2007-11-02 | 2010-09-17 | Ujf Filiale | DEFORMABLE MIRROR WITH DISTRIBUTED RAIDEUR, TOOL AND METHOD FOR REALIZING SUCH A MIRROR |
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| EP2324387A1 (en) | 2011-05-25 |
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| US8794773B2 (en) | 2014-08-05 |
| US20110211268A1 (en) | 2011-09-01 |
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| JP5695565B2 (en) | 2015-04-08 |
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